Celebrating the beauty of gardens!

This planting combination relies on foliage color and texture to deliver all-season good looks. Included in this garden scene, clockwise from upper left:

This Phormium was sold to us as P. 'Maori Queen' though I have my doubts about whether that is the actual variety. My suspicion is that its P. 'Maori Maiden'. No matter, the most important thing in terms of this planting scheme is to select one with vibrant coloring, a relaxed habit, some indication that it doesn't want to get too large, AND an understanding that it may not be a long term addition to the garden as its marginally hardy in Pacific Northwest gardens.

A classic for good reason, Hosta 'June' is a top-notch perennial that is most certainly worth growing; reliable and beautiful. She's a keeper!

This species rhodie, Rhododendron pachysanthum was selected on the basis of its foliage moreso than flower. The new foliage of Rhododendron pachysanthum has a hairy texture, called indumentum, on its new growth which is attractive and early evidence suggests it has the added benefit of deterring the dreaded rhododendron lace bug that has been plaguing rhododendrons in our area.

x Heucherella 'Sweet Tea' is a reliable and versatile semi-evergreen perennial. Its foliage color is a bit hard to pin down; sometimes pink or salmon tones predominate, other times it reads more bronze. In any case, its colored foliage pairs wonderfully with a variety of partners; it plays well with the pink and tan tones shown here but is especially wonderful with blue and/or silver foliage.

Diascia 'Redstart' is an easy to grow, long-blooming annual that adds a touch of flower power to the scene.

Visit this album to see more of this garden and to see this vignette in context.

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This quietly sophisticated planting combination relies on foliage color and texture to deliver all-season good looks. This garden looks great year-round; I've posted about this vignette before, showcasing its late winter performance when the Stachyurus praecox is the star of the show.

Podocarpus lawrencei 'Blue Gem' is a finely textured blue evergreen that is supremely useful. I've found that its quite flexible in terms of growing conditions, tolerating sites that are very sunny to quite shady. Tolerant of summer water, but not a slave to it. A strong grower yet able to be kept to a manageable size, if desired, by pruning.

Stachyurus praecox is not widely grown, but deserves to be used more! It's primarily known for its winter display of pendulous creamy white flowers though it also delivers a respectable display of golden fall color.

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If you enjoyed this post, you'll definitely want to check out eGardenGo, a web app that's preloaded with luscious plant combo recipes and personalized tools to organize your notes, photos and plant preferences. You can even create your own recipes.

Strappy foliage of a showy, pink phormium provides a continuation of the color story to ground level and adds textural contrast.

Later, Digiplexis Illumination™ 'Flame' will provide a long lasting display of very showy flower spires. This is a relative newcomer to the Pacific Northwest garden scene and initial findings suggest that it will be an annual in our area. So enjoy it for the season but don't expect it to return the following year.

Light, bright and billowy: Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ is a footlight to the whole scene.

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If you enjoyed this post, you'll definitely want to check out eGardenGo, a web app that's preloaded with luscious plant combo recipes and personalized tools to organize your notes, photos and plant preferences. You can even create your own recipes.

As rich and dark as a 70% pure chocolate bar, the foliage of this ninebark anchors this vignette and is a delicious backdrop for the lighter colored foliage and flowers. Pictured here is Physocarpus opulifolius 'Mindia' COPPERTINA™ but P. 'Diabolo' would work equally well.

The finely textured maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light) with its white variegation is a nice backdrop for the dark foliage of the ninebark.

China rose (Rosa chinensis 'Mutabilis') is an easy to grow species rose. Single blooms that open cream and age to pink before their graceful demise (read: "no deadheading required:) appear from spring to fall.

A wisp of pheasant's tail grass (Anemanthele lessoniana) provides textural contrast. Carex testacea would be an equally good alternate if the pheasant grass isn't hardy in your area.

Finely textured purple foliage of the calico aster (Aster lateriflorus 'Prince') is smothered in a profusion of tiny pinkish-white flowers. This is tough and easy to grow perennial; no staking or deadheading required.

The phormium's strappy foliage delivers the milk chocolate tones and are a sweet addition to this delicious combo. There are number of different varieties that would work well here and the exact ID of the one pictured has eluded me. It is likely P. 'Rainbow Queen' aka 'Maori Queen' though other varieties of similar ilk would work as well. Do keep in mind that phormium should be considered an annual in our PNW gardens. Though in periods on mild winters they may persist for a number of years, they are always living on borrowed time. Enjoy them, but be warned.

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If you enjoyed this post, you'll definitely want to check out eGardenGo, a web app that's preloaded with luscious plant combo recipes and personalized tools to organize your notes, photos and plant preferences. You can even create your own recipes.

I've had very good luck with Allium 'Globemaster' in my sunny front garden. I have just what they want: full sun and excellent drainage and they've rewarded me by multiplying. Anyone that's ever bought one of these bulbs can relate to how cool that is (the bulbs can run upwards $8 to $9 per bulb!).

I dearly loved this stand of breadseed poppy (Papaver somniferum 'Lauren's Grape') that I grew for a number of years. She loved my front garden as well; so much so that I'm still on a campaign of editing her out. So, under the category of "careful what you wish for" I present the lovely Lauren.

This duo of purple bloominess is backed by a large variegated ornamental grass. Shown here is Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegata' but I'd pass on that one and grow the variegated maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light') instead, for a whole host of reasons, but mainly because it doesn't flop as easily and its texture is unsurpassed.

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If you enjoyed this post, you'll definitely want to check out eGardenGo, a web app that's preloaded with luscious plant combo recipes and personalized tools to organize your notes, photos and plant preferences. You can even create your own recipes.

Mixed border in my backyard garden, Bloomtown™ in Portland, Oregon. This photo was taken in high summer. But this planting combination looks good from late spring until at least late summer, and often beyond with some strategic grooming in late season.

If you enjoyed this post, you'll definitely want to check out eGardenGo, a web app that's preloaded with luscious plant combo recipes and personalized tools to organize your notes, photos and plant preferences. You can even create your own recipes.

Here's a planting combination for you to consider as you're deciding which plants to include in your garden. This scene was captured late May in one my client gardens. It features the blowsy blooms of the intersectional peony, Paeonia x 'Smith Opus' Misaka™ and the bronze foliage of the ninebark, Physocarpus opulifolius 'Mindia' COPPERTINA™.

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If you enjoyed this post, you'll definitely want to check out eGardenGo, a web app that's preloaded with luscious plant combo recipes and personalized tools to organize your notes, photos and plant preferences. You can even create your own recipes.

Stachyurus praecox is a wonderful shrub which deserves to be much more widely grown. It's blooming now in Portland so this is the season to check it out and also the season when you'll most likely be able to find it at the nurseries. It's a bit of a collector's plant so you'll need to get it from your local independent nursery vs. a big-box supplier.

One of its most wonderful qualities are these unique pendulous blooms that appear before the foliage in early spring. Situated in front of dark evergreens the creamy blooms are all the more striking. Reliable yellow fall color is an asset as well.

This photo is taken in a client's front garden and this vignette looks great year-yound. The other prominent plants pictured are Astelia 'Red Gem' in the lower right and the evergreen backdrop is Cryptomeria japonica 'Rein's Dense Jade'.

And I'm not the only one singing its praises, it's a Great Plant Pick. So keep your eyes out for this wonderful garden plant and snap it up if you're in the market for a medium to large-ish shrub for your garden.

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If you enjoyed this post, you'll definitely want to check out eGardenGo, a web app that's preloaded with luscious plant combo recipes and personalized tools to organize your notes, photos and plant preferences. You can even create your own recipes.

I got a message on my Facebook page today from someone asking me to identify a plant they saw in a photo of a garden that I designed in a recent issue of Sunset. As is oftentimes the case, it can be hard for me to identify plants without seeing a copy of the exact photo that she might be looking at, but I thought I'd give it a shot by looking in my photo files of that client's garden.

She was asking about a white-variegated plant with bold foliage and this certainly fits that description. While I don't think it's the plant she was looking to have ID'ed (I'll have to keep looking for that), I've always loved this combo and I thought you might like it too. I find this foliage-driven, mostly-monochromatic scheme to be elegant and sophisticated. The addition of the bold, white variegated foliage of the Fatsia adds sparkle and drama. Though not evident in this photo, the Podocarpus adds a lot of changing color to the mix; it takes on bronze tones in winter and its new growth is creamy aging to pink.

Plants, back to front: Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web', Podocarpus alpinus 'County Park Fire', Astelia 'Westand' (though could possibly be A. 'Red Gem' which I'm using more frequently than 'Westland' at this point).

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